It’s great for learning to work quickly (most of the time). You need a logo? Give me two hours, and I’ll hand you something that will at least be some degree of passable.

That’s the upside.

The downside, I realized last weekend.

It was Super Bowl Sunday, actually, when I was sketching some Valentine’s Day-themed illustrations. It was only Feb. 3, and I had a full week and a half til Feb. 14. All I had to do was get those designs finished and uploaded to my Society6 shop, and then start promoting it.

Plenty of time. Actually, I thought I was ahead of the game.

Then my friend Amanda walked over, and I proudly explained my plan.

She paused. “But if someone does order something with these designs on them,” she asked, “will they ship in time for Valentine’s Day?”

I blinked.

Well, darn.

She had a point.

There’s a reason stores started advertising lovey-dovey stuff right after Christmas. Yes, we all think it’s way too early, but they aren’t completely wrong.

People need time to make decisions.

And then decisions need time to be shipped.

I need to make sure there’s enough of a time buffer to allow people to act on the stuff I’m putting in front of them.